Michael Scarborough is a designer and decorative craftsman working in a broad range of media and techniques. The son of a naval officer and an educator, and the great-grandson of a mosaic artist from northern Italy, he spent his formative years in the American South, Japan, and on the North Shore of Long Island.  His father built him his first workbench when he was four years old.  Building models with his dad, watching the restoration of Japanese temples, and assisting Japanese boat builders in the construction of the family boat initiated a life-long love affair with all forms of craftsmanship and the decorative arts.

High school years were spent as a carpenter's apprentice at the famous Knutson Shipyard on Long Island and were followed by participation in the restoration of several historical aircraft, among them a Grumman Wildcat, now in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Skills in fine detail work were further developed by building architectural and aircraft models on commission, several of which are now on display at the Musée de l'Air in Paris.

A twenty-five year ''detour" as an international opera singer, beginning as an apprentice with Santa Fe Opera and culminating as a soloist in Carnegie Hall, offered opportunities for numerous visits to museums, galleries, auction houses and craftsmen's studios and provided a rich education in connoisseurship. More formalized training included classes in restoration with the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s conservation staff, as well as courses in connoisseurship at NYU.  He also studied interior design at Parsons School of Design, where his passion for historical styles led one instructor to describe him as being “at the trailing edge of design.”  He is currently enrolled in the certificate program at the Institute of Classical Architecture.

This rich and diverse background led to the formation of Michael Scarborough Design. The studio uses only historically accurate and, where feasible, environmentally responsible methods and materials in the restoration of fine antiques. Likewise, either re-claimed wood or lumber from sustainable forests is used in the creation of new pieces.

Michael Scarborough is a member of The Society of Gilders and a frequent contributor to The Gilder's Tip (click here), Historical Miniature (click here), and Hyperscale (click here) magazines (links will open in new windows and Hyperscale is an external site).